I don't own anything.

A/N: Alright it's another update but first off I want to thank my reviewers from last time; HeartsWereNeverMeantToRace, Isis Aurora Tomoe, CRAZYhead36,blueberry24, BreeGleek, NaeNae1495, nakala, musiclove, AdmireJaaay, Jazmonsterr, LoLo, rocklesson86, Tohrment and ANAMYOUS. Thank you all, and I hope everyone enjoys this new chapter and please remember to Review.

Baby S

Chapter Three

Mercedes woke up the next morning with an seriously upset stomach all due to the nervousness she felt deep in her gut. All she could think about last night was Azimio and Karofsky doing something to Tristan and him walking away from her because he just couldn't handle the pressure from those two. She had even had a dream about it. Even though she had only known Tristan for one day, she was willing to bet that at least for now that day had been the best day of her life. Someone had finally paid attention to her. Told her she was beautiful on numerous occasions and didn't care if someone saw her on his arm. Tristan really was something else, he made her feel special and she had only been around him for a day. A day, and now Azimio and Karofsky were trying to bully him into letting her go because she wasn't popular enough or whatever reason they had in their mind that he couldn't be with her. However she was sure that it all came down to her popularity and looks. Two things that she was sure they both hated about her. As she headed out of the house and to her car, she thought about Tristan and how he told her that he'd fight them if he had too. She had to admit that she didn't want him fighting those two at school, especially since fighting was the reason his family since him up here to live with his brother in the first place. She didn't want him to get into trouble over her, especially if fighting over her would get him expelled. Pulling into her normal parking space at McKinley High, she turned off her car and grabbed her bags. She looked around and saw Tristan sitting in his truck with the music playing while gently bobbing his head along to the beat while mouthing the words to the song. Walking over to his truck, she paused and waved at a few students she knew and then hurried over to his truck. Knocking on the window, she watched as he lifted his head up and sent her a bright smile. Turning off his truck, he quickly got out of the car and pulled her into a hug. "Hey beautiful." he whispered after a few seconds he reluctantly released her and stepped back but didn't remove his hands from her shoulders. Looking her over he sent her a small smile that showed off his dimples. "You look lovely this morning." Mercedes blushed at his words and tilted her head down. Tristan sighed and gently placed his hand underneath her chin. "What did I tell you about hiding that beautiful smile?" he said smoothly. Mercedes blushed again but kept her head up this time. He took in her smile and quickly brushed a kiss over her forehead. They stood there for a moment in the parking lot just staring at each other before Mercedes finally spoke up.

"Tristan aren't you a little bit nervous about what Azimio and Karofsky can do today?" she asked finally voicing her concerns to him. Tristan shrugged his shoulders and simply shook his head while leaning back against the door of his truck.

"Nope not really. I was more nervous yesterday when I spoke to you in the hallway before your class. I was scared you were going to turn me down. That was the only time I've been nervous here at this school," he said with a chuckle as he looked at her. "Now I will tell you that I'm anxious, mainly because they might try to mess with you and I don't want that to happen. I just wish they would grow the hell up and stop picking on girls. I can take them messing with me cause at least it's man to man." Mercedes nodded her at his words while looking towards the school's entrance.

"Have you seen them?"

"No, I haven't seen them at all this morning," he said as he followed her gaze towards the school's entrance. "But that doesn't mean I'm letting my guard down, come on I'll walk you inside." Offering her his arm, he patiently took her book bag from her and waited till she latched onto his arm before heading inside the school building. As they moved through the halls, Mercedes noticed that a lot of the girls were looking at them. Some were nodding their heads in approval while there were a few that openly frowned at the sight of her and Tristan. Of course most of those girls that showed their disapproval happened to be Cheerios. As they neared her locker, he reluctantly let her go as Tina bounced over to her to talk.

Tristan watched silently as she talked to Tina about something that had to do with their Glee club while standing off to the side, he really didn't want to crowd Mercedes when she was around her friends but he also didn't want Azimio and Karofsky trying anything on her this morning or any morning for that matter. Before he spoke to her yesterday, he could tell that she had been messed with before, and once she had confirmed his thoughts last night during their phone call. He had made a promise to himself that he would show her that she was beautiful and worthy of any guy's love. All he wanted to do was protect her and show her that she was beautiful. He wasn't going to let Azimio and Karofsky scare him away from what could possibly be the best relationship he had ever been in. Girls at his old school tried to latch onto him because they believed he was going places but that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted someone to like him because he was a good guy not because of the future that he could bring them. Mercedes as far as he could tell hadn't cared from day one about him and football. She asked him questions about himself, she wanted to get to know him just as much as he wanted to get to know her. Azimio and Karofsky weren't going to mess that up. Thinking of those two, he frowned. They were just to damn predictable, because he had put them in their place yesterday and defended not only himself and Mercedes, Azimio had tried to take him out during practice and now the guy was probably going try something today. All because they felt insulted. Tristan looked up as the bell rang signaling to all the students in the hallway that it was time to head off to class. Mercedes walked over to him and released a small sigh.

"Maybe they got the message." Tristan nodded his head slowly and brushed a kiss over Mercedes forehead.

"Maybe, do you want me to walk you to class."

"No, Tina's in there with me so I'm cool. See you at lunch." Tristan just nodded his head and watched as Mercedes and Tina headed off down the hallway towards their first period class. He stood there silently watching until they disappeared into a room before turning and heading off towards his own class.

When the lunch rang, Mercedes walked to her locker with Tina in tow. "So do you mind telling me what's going on with you and Tristan now?" Tina asked with a small smile on her face as she looked at her friend who was rolling her eyes heavenward at the question.

"Tina, sweetie. This is the second day of school. We are still getting to know one another." Mercedes pointed out with a small smile as she opened her locker. "Although I have to admit I really like him. We had a good conversation last night and well I just like him." Tina smiled at that while Mercedes just grinned and ducked her head into her locker as she put her books up.

"You know I really don't get what he sees in you." Mercedes froze as the cold voice washed over her. She knew who was speaking without even having to look up. Glancing over at Tina she saw her friend glaring at the speaker. Turning around, she slammed her locker closed and looked at Azimio and Karofsky. Azimio stared at her before slowly shaking his head. "I really don't get it." he continued with a sneer.

"If you don't get it, it's because you're a dumb ass." Azimio and Karofsky turned around and saw Tristan standing behind them with his fists at his side. "At least you don't have any slushies."

"The machine was done." Azimio replied with a shrug as he looked at Tristan, who quickly walked over to Mercedes and blocked her from the both of them. Azimio followed his movements with a sneer and just shook his head. "If it hadn't been down we would have shown you this morning what it meant to be a loser here at McKinley," Tristan watched as Karofsky just nodded his head along with what Azimio was saying. Azimio stepped forward and boldly looked Tristan directly in his eyes. "Do you have any idea what you will be losing if you remain with her." Tristan just titled his head to the side and smirked while shaking his head.

"No, I don't," he drawled out tiredly. "Why don't you tell me what exactly I would lose if I left Mercedes alone." he asked just wanting to see what Azimio would say mainly because he was curious. He just wanted to hear what this crazy ass guy had to say.

"Popularity," Azimio stated first with a tone that seemed to suggest that was a good enough reason. "Everything that-." Tristan cut him off with a wave of his hand while shaking his head at him.

"You do realize that this is school-this is just high school," Tristan stated coolly as he shook his head at Azimio. "I don't give a damn about popularity, Azimio. Really I don't care." he gave them both a look and just shook his head. "Just know this, if you try to do anything to her," he paused and pointed towards Mercedes. "I'll kick your ass and gladly take the punishment." he shouted out loudly, not really caring that his words had made the crowd that had circled them near the beginning of the fight even bigger. "In fact since I probably will be punished for doing the right thing-I might as well kick your ass extra hard so you can feel it even when I'm not around. Now that's all I'm gonna say on the subject so now I guess the ball is in your hands." Azimio glared at Tristan as he finished his speech, Tristan could see the other boy grinding his teeth. Within the blink of an eye, Azimio rushed forward throwing out a wild punch. Tristan grabbed his arm and turned using Azimio momentum to slam him into the lockers. Just as Karofsky rushed forward intent on protecting his friend and inflecting his own damage on Tristan. Releasing Azimio who was groaning in pain from the slam, he turned and readied himself for Karofsky attack. Before Karofsky could get to him, several football players rushed into the fight. Two guys grabbed Karofsky while Finn, Sam and Puck locked their arms around Tristan and hauled him away from the fight.

"Yo man calm down." Puck whispered as he released, Tristan and stepped back as Mercedes rushed through the small group and looked up at Tristan who was slowly releasing a breath while flexing his hands.

"Tristan are you okay."

"I'm fine." he said softly as he looked down at her. He glanced over the top of her head at Azimio and Karofsky who were being led away by some of the football players that had come to their aid. Puck released a low whistle and just shook his head.

"Man you certainly are making a name for yourself here and it's only day two." shaking his head, he patted him on the arm and walked off. Finn stayed behind for a minute and just looked at Tristan with a small smile on his face.

"That was cool how you did Azimio man." Tristan cracked a small smile when he noticed the look of disapproval that Mercedes was currently sending his way. He wanted nothing more than to tell Finn that he thought it was cool too.

"Thank man." he said, Finn just nodded his head and walked off after Puck which left Sam standing there with him and Mercedes. Tristan eyed Sam for a minute and waited for the boy to say something. He knew whatever Sam Evans said wouldn't be in his favor, after yesterday and the look that he had received from Sam and the looks that he had seen Sam sending Mercedes' way he was pretty sure what was on the other boys mind.

"How about next time you want to fight, do it when Mercedes isn't standing two feet away from you." Mercedes turned to look at Sam as she heard the anger in his tone, Tristan raised an eyebrow at that and glanced over at Mercedes who was still staring at Sam simply stunned by his words.

"I didn't decide to pick a fight with them. They came at her," Tristan said as he stared Sam down. "So I protected her, what you rather me do instead?" he asked sarcastically as he looked at the young quarterback. Sam just crossed his arms over his chest and sent Tristan a look that clearly told him that he wasn't finished.

Taking his eyes off Tristan, Sam turned to Mercedes and placed a hand on her arm. "Mercy, can I talk to Tristan alone for a second." Mercedes' gaze shifted from Sam to Tristan and back again before she sighed.

"I don't want you two-."

"We won't fight baby," Tristan said noticing the way Sam's body tensed up at his term of endearment. "I promise." Bending down he brushed a kiss over her forehead and watched as she took a step back for turning to look at Sam who was still standing there looking at him. His eyes dark with an emotion that Tristan didn't even want to give term too. "Where do you want to talk?"

"In this classroom." Sam said slowly as he turned and headed towards the room, Tristan clenched his jaw and slowly followed behind Sam. Once they were alone in the classroom, Tristan spoke up his voice growing cold with each word.

"So how long have you liked Mercedes?" Sam's eyebrows rose in shock at his words, shaking his head.

"Excuse me."

"I appreciate you looking out for her safety and all but seriously how long have you been pining after her." Sam bristled at his words and just shook his head.

"This isn't about me and my feelings this is about you being-."

"What exactly am I being. Like I said out there, I stood up for Mercedes and as far as I'm concern there wasn't nothing wrong with me doing that. Azimio and Karofsky approached her talking shit and I stopped it." Sam rolled his eyes at Tristan's words and just shook his head.

"You don't understand-."

"Oh but I do," Tristan said as he walked up to Sam and narrowed his eyes. "You like her a lot, and it's obvious you care about her safety. So my only question is this- why was she alone when I got here." Sam's mouth dropped open at his words and Tristan rolled his eyes.

"Were you to scared to show her how you felt in front them were you to scared to show her that you really care is that it?" he asked bluntly as he shook his head. Wiping a hand over his face, Tristan released a strained growl and stepped back from Sam. "That's it, I don't even have to look in your eyes to know that."

"You don't know a damn thing about me, Tristan." Sam snapped out angrily as he glared at Tristan who was slowly making his way towards the door. At Sam's retort, Tristan froze with his hand on the doorknob, looking at Sam from over his shoulder he spoke up.

"The only thing I know is that you need to get your feelings together cause you missed your chance, Mercedes is with me now." Sam crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Tristan before chuckling bitterly.

"And how long will that last huh? You don't own her you know."

"You're right I don't, but I'm protective and she doesn't need to get with someone like you. Like I said you missed your chance." With that said, Tristan headed out of the room leaving a fuming Sam behind. As he exited the room, he spied Mercedes by her locker. Once she saw him, she hurried over and looked over his shoulder for Sam.

"Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah, of course it is." he said with a sigh. "And have to admit, Sam did have a good point. I shouldn't have fought in front of you like that, but those guys just got me so angry especially with them coming at you and saying all that stuff." he looked Mercedes directly in the eyes and cupped her face. "I want you to know upfront that I don't care about popularity or anything else that this school offers it so-called elites, okay."

"I know Tristan I heard you." she said softly as she looked up at him. "You really told them off this time and I think they won't try to bother me or you anymore."

"That's good cause all I wanna do is enjoy being with you and playing football." he said with a crooked smile. "Come on let's go head to lunch."

Later on that day, Tristan and Mercedes were doing what was steadily becoming their normal routine, he'd come home from practice and call her so they could talk until dinner was ready. "I think you should join Glee." Mercedes blurted out as Tristan was in the mist of changing his television channel. Lifting a surprise eyebrow at her request, he shook his head and chuckled lightly.

"I don't know about that, shouldn't I be able to sing and all." Plus he didn't want to be in a class with Sam if he could help it. It was already clear that for right now, they weren't going to be friends. Sam had been extremely cold during practice. Even Puck and Finn noticed the attitude change in their usual calm friend. Tristan had told them that he had just been upset with how close the fight had been to Mercedes and how he agreed that he should have made sure she was safety out of the way before engaging dumber and dumber in a fight. He wasn't an asshole, he could at least admit that Sam was right about that. "Mercedes I don't think that will be a good idea." he stated with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh come on, it's the beginning of the year and you can get out of P.E. especially since Azimio and Karofsky are still in that class, besides I'm sure you can carry a tune."

"What part of dying farm animal didn't you understand, Ms. Lady?" he asked with a sigh. "I really don't believe there's much help for me in the singing department."

"Mike can't sing that good and he's in Glee."

"That's cause he can dance his ass off." Tristan pointed out with a shake of his head. "I don't have those type of skills to cover up the fact that I'm a talentless hack up on the stage now you get me on a field and I'll be tearing things up left and right."

"You're more than football, Tristan." he felt himself blush at her words as a small smile went across his face. That's why he liked her so much, she could see pass the letterman jacket with the football emblem on it.

"You're about that, beautiful."

"So come on join Glee or do you want some of the other guys wrapping their arms around me and-."

"Does that really happen?" he asked.

"Uh-oh is someone jealous?" she asked with a giggle, Tristan just sighed.

"Alright you got me, I didn't think Mr. Shue would allow that to go on in there." Mercedes giggled at his words.

"Well-." she dragged out the word, and she could literally see Tristan tensing up at the mention of some other guy holding her and wrapping his arms around her. It made her feel special, that he would actually be jealous over her and what she was doing. She was usually the jealous one, always wondering why that person and not her. Especially since in her mind they were a better fit. "I'm just playing, it's just the dances and stuff. Nothing extra."

"So you want me to join Glee?" he asked turned off his television and focused all of his attention on the conversation they were currently having at the moment. "Would you be upset if I asked you to give me sometime, because aside from not being able to sing. I get really shy in front of crowds."

"Oh no my poor teddy." she playfully whimpered out, Tristan opened his mouth to reply but stopped as he registered the word that Mercedes had just used for him. Sitting up in his bed, he pressed his phone to his ear not wanting to miss a word of her explanation.

"Teddy?"

"Oh my God, you heard that."

"Loud and clear, Ms. Lady so tell me is that my nickname and I want a detailed answer on why you choose Teddy." he said with a chuckle, that literally melted Mercedes insides. She sighed and laid back on her bed and looked up at the ceiling.

"I call you Teddy because you're protective and fierce like a bear can be, but you also make me want to snuggle you."

"Snuggle huh, well we are just gonna have to do that sometime soon cause I want to snuggle with you too. I think it'll be fun." he said with a chuckle.

"So do you like it."

"Love it."

"Good, now Teddy about you joining Glee. I really think you should, it would give you more time to spend with me and everything." Tristan groaned and Mercedes smiled because she just had a feeling she was breaking through to him and that he was close to caving.

"You really know what to say huh, of course I would love to spend more time with you but I seriously don't think that Glee club-."

"Please just try it out for a week, I'm sure Mr. Shue won't mind."

"Fine, I'll do that. Besides Azimio, Karofsky and I all need a break from one another." he stated with a sigh. "Is there anything I need to do in order to join. You know anything this Mr. Shue guy will make me done if I join."

"You might want to find a few songs to sing, any genre will do."

"Now you know I can't sing."

"You can sing to me, that should help with the shyness and stuff like that." Mercedes said, "Besides I'm sure after the display you put on this afternoon the guys want you to join. They're always talking about how their outnumbered and stuff like that."

"You know I'm starting to think one of your secret fantasies is having a guy sing a song for you." Mercedes just sighed before giggling.

"Oh how did you know."

"It was a wild guess." he replied with a chuckle. "It's getting late I guess I better late you go so you can head down to dinner."

"Oh okay and I hope I'm not pressuring you or anything about Glee. I just seriously think it would be fun to be together in the club. I seriously think you'll enjoy yourself."

"If you're there I'm sure I will. Talk to you later, Ms. Lady."

"Bye Teddy." she said with a smile before hanging up the phone, she slipped the phone into her pocket and stood up from the bed wondering what type of song, Tristan might pick for his upcoming Glee audition.

The rest of the week went by without incident, Tristan had decided that he would start Glee club that upcoming Monday and Mercedes just couldn't wait till then. She had asked him if he needed him picking out his song, but he had declined. Instead he asked her if she wanted to do anything that Saturday night, after a quick debate the couple decided that the movies was the perfect place to spend some time together.

"Do you want to take a break?" Lifting her head up from the book she had been pretending to read, she looked over at Sam who was currently sitting across from her at the table. They had been going over the play all day. Both of them helping each other understand different points in the play. All year during finals they had discovered that they were perfect study partners. If one of them understood something that the other didn't they could explain it. They just clicked, that way. Sam smiled as he noticed the lost look on Mercedes face. "Oh now I know you need a break."

"I guess you're right." Mercedes said pushing her book across the table in disgust. "I'm tired of this now, and Ms. Davis, you know she's all types of wrong for assigning this at the beginning of the year." Sam smirked at her statement and just nodded his head as he looked at her.

"Yeah, but you know I've come to the conclusion that it's better if we just get things out of the way right now. At least it won't be on the final." Mercedes just sighed and nodded her head as she stood up from the table.

"I guess you're right," turning towards the kitchen she called out to him. "Do you want something to drink?"

"A water would be nice." Mercedes jumped at the sound of Sam's voice and turned around surprise to see him standing directly behind her. "Sorry." he stated sheepishly as he looked at her for a minute before sighing. "Do you really like him?" Mercedes who had been in the mist of grabbing a couple of water bottles from the fridge paused and looked back at Sam who was nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"I-why are you asking me that." Sam stepped over to her and looked her directly in the eyes.

"I'm serious, Mercedes do you really like Tristan?" Standing up fully, she closed the fridge and handed him his bottle.

"Of course I like him, otherwise I wouldn't be dealing with him. Now do you mind telling me why you don't like him. He hasn't done anything wrong to me. He's been helping me since day one and he really cares about me. As my friend at thought you'd be happy for me."

"You have no idea how much I want to be happy for you," Sam replied with a soft sigh. "I want to be happy but I'm just-I'm just questioning why-."

"What was I suppose to do, continue on with my high school exist as lonely but happy Mercedes." she snapped getting angry at his words. "And now I finally have a guy who sees me for the great person that I am and here you are trying to question it and trying to put doubts in my mind." Sam opened his bottle of water and took a quick sip. His throat was suddenly dry at Mercedes words, shaking his head he looked over at her.

"You weren't alone."

"I was- and having friends don't count. Do you really think I was comfortable constantly going out and being the odd wheel, Sam." she said finally telling one of her friends how she had been feeling for quite sometime. Mercedes took a deep sigh and shook her head while looking away from Sam.

"I didn't know you felt that way, in fact I don't think anyone knew."

"I didn't want to take out an ad in the paper to tell you guys." Mercedes admitted as she looked over at Sam finally. He looked down at her and then slowly backed away from her and went to lean on the countertop.

"So you-you settled for him."

"Oh my God-how dare you." she snapped out angrily as she looked at him, Sam looked at her for a moment sighing.

"That-that didn't come out right."

"You think-."

"Look I'm just saying that before you do anything with this guy that maybe just maybe you need to wait and see about some things. Don't date him just yet, get to know him."

"Sam what do you think I'm doing," Mercedes said with a shake of her head. "He's nice and all I've been doing since I've met him is getting to know him. Hell, I've been learning all about him this week. He's a cool guy and I'm glad he's likes me. It's nice to feel wanted and I'm not gonna mess it up to play some type of game."

"Fine alright then I guess your mind is already made up." he said with a sigh. Mercedes studied him for a moment while taking a sip of water.

"Why are you doing this Sam?" he looked over at her and released a deep sigh that sounded tortured even to Mercedes.

"I'm just-I worry about you cause you're my friend and I'm you're my friend." he pushed himself off the countertop and sent her another look. "Isn't that what friends are suppose to do." Mercedes studied him for a moment and Sam was almost positive that she wanted to say something else but instead of saying anything she walked over to him and gave him a hug.

"Thank you then." she murmured, Sam sat his water bottle down and wrapped his arms around her tightly. Mercedes pulled away from him and raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for being a friend but seriously Tristan's a good guy."

"Yeah, I guess." Sam murmured, while forcing himself to smile. Mercedes smiled and stepped out of his embrace and headed back to the table with Sam on her heels. "So what are you going to do after we study."

"Why? Aren't you going somewhere with Santana?" Mercedes asked in confusion, Sam settled down in the car across from her and shrugged his shoulders.

"We don't have any plans for tonight so I was wondering if-." Mercedes slowly shook her head.

"I'm sorry but I can't. Tristan and I are going to the movies tonight." Sam cringed a bit, but quickly brushed it off before she could notice.

"Oh really and what are you going to see?" he asked with a smile as he pulled his book over to him. Mercedes reached for her book and pulled it towards her while shrugging her shoulders.

"We don't really know, we just said we'd pick when we get there."

"Oh that's nice," he said lowly. "I hope you have fun." He watched as a smile appeared on Mercedes' face at his words and all he could think about was what Tristan had told him earlier that week when they had their little argument cause it really did look like he had missed his chance.